O's claim Travis Lakins, DFA Stevie Wilkerson

[wildcard]

10 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Yeah, if the goal was to try to have Norfolk win the most games possible that would be the plan. I expect Mountcastle to play the corner outfield before getting called up, unless the Orioles decide both (1) to release Davis and (2) that Mancini is a better corner outfielder than Mountcastle, neither of which I expect to happen.

Really?   Mancini has a decent arm.   Mountcastle has a weak arm.   

Mountcastle is described a slow.   Like Mancini.

Mancini has had three years to get use to the routes in the outfield.    Mountcastle has had a few games in the outfield.

I think there is a great chance that Mancini is better in the outfield then Mountcastle.   

And with Diaz coming in the next year there is no long term reason to have Mountcastle learn the outfield.

Davis does not have to be released to make room.  He just has to go to the bench.

[eddie83]

7 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Really?   Mancini has a decent arm.   Mountcastle has a weak arm.   

Mountcastle is described a slow.   Like Mancini.

Mancini has had three years to get use to the routes in the outfield.    Mountcastle has had a few games in the outfield.

I think there is a great chance that Mancini is better in the outfield then Mountcastle.   

And with Diaz coming in the next year there is no long term reason to have Mountcastle learn the outfield.

Davis does not have to be released to make room.  He just has to go to the bench.

Was Mancini ever athletic enough to play SS?  Mountcastle is built much slender than Trey. I don’t get your line of thinking here. Mancini is clearly not a quality defender in the OF and he isn’t getting any younger. Mountcastle is 5 years younger than Trey.

And at the end of the day why not see what Mountcastle can do in LF? The advantages of having a team like we have is it allows you to try things that do not cost the team a chance to win.  

[eddie83]

As far as Diaz goes you want real competition. We have no idea who will or will not stick and someone like Santander could always be moved to DH if necessary. Can’t assume in 2022 all these players pan out.  

[wildcard]

13 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Was Mancini ever athletic enough to play SS?  Mountcastle is built much slender than Trey. I don’t get your line of thinking here. Mancini is clearly not a quality defender in the OF and he isn’t getting any younger. Mountcastle is 5 years younger than Trey.

And at the end of the day why not see what Mountcastle can do in LF? The advantages of having a team like we have is it allows you to try things that do not cost the team a chance to win.  

I expect that the O's will try Mountcastle to outfield in ST.  And then decide he will be better at 1B.

I agree Trey is not a quality defender in the OF.  That is why Diaz is the O's future right fielder.    But for the beginning for this season I expect Trey to better in the outfield than Ryan.

[MurphDogg]

16 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Really?   Mancini has a decent arm.   Mountcastle has a weak arm.

Mountcastle is described a slow.   Like Mancini.

I would be floored if Mancini, who never played a position other than first base in the minors has a better arm than Mountcastle, who was playing shortstop in 2017 and third base as recently as last year. I think Mountcastle is likely to be a noticeably better outfielder than Mancini with sufficient reps, and the O's will make every effort to give Mountcastle those reps.

 

 

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, MurphDogg said:

I would be floored if Mancini, who never played a position other than first base in the minors has a better arm than Mountcastle, who was playing shortstop in 2017 and third base as recently as last year. I think Mountcastle is likely to be a noticeably better outfielder than Mancini with sufficient reps, and the O's will make every effort to give Mountcastle those reps.

 

 

Hope you are right. But  I will believe it when I see it.

[eddie83]

21 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I expect that the O's will try Mountcastle to outfield in ST.  And then decide he will be better at 1B.

I agree Trey is not a quality defender in the OF.  That is why Diaz is the O's future right fielder.    But for the beginning for this season I expect Trey to better in the outfield than Ryan.

I hope they give him a long leash in LF because there is absolutely nothing to lose. Odds are Trey will either not be here or will not be as good by the time the Orioles have a chance to be winners again. If they give Ryan a long leash in LF and then decide it isn’t working than so be it. 

They need to maximize opportunities to see what young players can do before that time. 

[wildcard]

11 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

I hope they give him a long leash in LF because there is absolutely nothing to lose. Odds are Trey will either not be here or will not be as good by the time the Orioles have a chance to be winners again. If they give Ryan a long leash in LF and then decide it isn’t working than so be it. 

They need to maximize opportunities to see what young players can do before that time. 

I expect that it will be very obvious in ST that the O's rightfielder of the future will be Diaz.     With Hays is center and Santander in left.   They have all come through he minors as outfielders. 

So if the O's are looking for a permanent position for Mountcastle I don't see the logic in going through the pains of him learning the outfield.     He sounds like a 1B/DH to me.   And I say sounds because I can't say for sure  until I do see him.

[MurphDogg]

21 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I expect that it will be very obvious in ST that the O's rightfielder of the future will be Diaz.     With Hays is center and Santander in left.   They have all come through he minors as outfielders. 

So if the O's are looking for a permanent position for Mountcastle I don't see the logic in going through the pains of him learning the outfield.     He sounds like a 1B/DH to me.   And I say sounds because I can't say for sure  until I do see him.

That would be ideal, but I'm not ready to declare Diaz a major league outfielder yet.

I'm not positive that Santander is a major league starting outfielder yet either, although he sure looked like it until September 7th. Hopefully he builds on his 2019 season and doesn't run out of gas he like he seems to have last year. He had only played more than 72 games once in his career prior to 2019 (in 2016), so it isn't surprising that he ran out of gas.

The more value they can get out of Mountcastle the better, I don't think any player should be declared a 1B/DH until all other options are exhausted.

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, MurphDogg said:

That would be ideal, but I'm not ready to declare Diaz a major league outfielder yet.

I'm not positive that Santander is a major league starting outfielder yet either, although he sure looked like it until September 7th. Hopefully he builds on his 2019 season and doesn't run out of gas he like he seems to have last year. He had only played more than 72 games once in his career prior to 2019 (in 2016), so it isn't surprising that he ran out of gas.

The more value they can get out of Mountcastle the better, I don't think any player should be declared a 1B/DH until all other options are exhausted.

Mountcastle needs to find a position he can play regularly in the majors.  If that is 1B/DH with the way he hits then would be fine with that.

[NCRaven]

I’m not even ready to declare Hays or Santander Major League outfielders.

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

I’m not even ready to declare Hays or Santander Major League outfielders.

Compared to the choices that O's have they will have to play their way out of the OF in my opinion.  So they are, until their not.  Hopefully that is in 10-15 years.

[NCRaven]

Or until someone better comes along.  Mountcastle could be that someone.  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Really?   Mancini has a decent arm.   Mountcastle has a weak arm.   

Mountcastle is described a slow.   Like Mancini.

Mancini has had three years to get use to the routes in the outfield.    Mountcastle has had a few games in the outfield.

I think there is a great chance that Mancini is better in the outfield then Mountcastle.   

Sight unseen it’s hard to judge, but Trey was -6 outs above average, 77th out of 92 qualified outfielders, despite starting only 83 games there.   In terms of jump, he was 86th out of 98.  That’s pretty awful and I’ll go with “what’s behind the curtain.”

[wildcard]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Sight unseen it’s hard to judge, but Trey was -6 outs above average, 77th out of 92 qualified outfielders, despite starting only 83 games there.   In terms of jump, he was 86th out of 98.  That’s pretty awful and I’ll go with “what’s behind the curtain.”

What's behind the curtain is a old bald guy that is pretending to be something he is not.

I fully agree that Trey's long term future should not be in the OF.   Diaz has speed and a good arm.  If he can hit his way to the majors he is the long term answer in right.   

A below average runner with a noodle arm in not the right skill set as far as I can tell.  ST will provide more answers.